Israeli parliamentarians face limits for visits to Palestinian prisoners

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has approved a limit to the number of visits that parliamentarians (MKs) can make to Palestinian security prisoners, Ynet News has reported. The limit was proposed by the Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Information, Gilad Erdan.

The Knesset’s House Committee under chairman Yoav Kisch decided that visiting Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails encourages and supports them, prompting Palestinians to carry out “terror acts”. When MKs visit prisoners, it was pointed out, their immunity means that they are not searched, and so there is the potential for them to smuggle information and items into and out of the prisons.

Since the approval of the proposal, those MKs who wish to see prisoners have to coordinate the visits with the Knesset speaker as well as the chairpersons of the Knesset House Committee and State Control Committee, explained Ynet News. Even then, restrictions will apply. “Only certain members of the coalition and the opposition will be permitted to visit security prisoners,” the Israeli website reported.

In addition, those making such visits will be subject to searches “based on the belief that national security must take precedence over MK immunity when considering these visits.”

In reality, this new measure is only targeting Arab MKs following recent allegations that some have abused their position during visits to Palestinian prisoners. The Arab bloc of MKs accuse the government and ministers of a determined campaign to undermine them.